keep your fingers crossed

when you've somehow sucked it up and gone jogging for the last three nights and eaten mostly fruits and veggies (trying to clean that fridge out before we move!) it's easy to just give in to temptation. especially when temptation is battered and deep fried.

but let's start with the booze. i went to the POPE on tuesday for the tapping of the flying fish exit 11 firkin. this is part of flying fish brewery's "exit series" of beers, which celebrates their home state by brewing a set of beers as diverse as new jersey itself. according to the website:

Exit 11 is a confluence of styles and ingredients, just as exit 11 is the point in New Jersey where the Garden State Parkway, the New Jersey Turnpike and several other highways come together.

cute concept, great beer. i was a bit taken aback to find that the beer was room temperature, but i now see that is the way of the firkin, normally served at 55 degrees. i read that exit 11 is an american-style wheat beer, brewed with english ale yeast, three different kinds of hops and half belgian pale malt and half white wheat. i don't know what all that adds up to except a crisp, clean pint of beer with a tart, fruity finish. and it's a big beer, with a 6.2% abv, meaning at $5.50 a pint, i only ordered (and only needed) one.

then it was on to dinner. i haven't been to POPE since they launched their new menu and i've heard mixed reviews of the veggie burger, the seitan steak and the polenta napoleon. it was hot out and i wasn't in the mood for something super heavy, but damn if i'm not a sucker for junk once in a while. enter: seitan fingers and french fries. these are the veggie version of chicken fingers and they MIGHT fool your carniverous boyfriend if his eyes are closed. the fingers were crisp and hot with juicy tender seitan inside. thumbs up to the fries - and i recently figured out the trick to successful leftovers: eat all the fries while you're at the restaurant and take half the sandwich/fingers/whatever home because those fries just ain't the same on day 2. so i had 2 fingers leftover for tomorrow (or later - drunk midnight snack, don't judge me). oh, how could i forget the spicy bbq dipping sauce? it's like a citrusy spicy light bbq sauce and i shall forever regret not taking a little cup to go with my leftovers.

(you might not think it, but in that condiment cup is liquid gold)

my buddy ciarra basically went the complete opposite direction and ordered the st. pablo's watermelon special which was 3 big slices of watermelon with cayenne, lime juice and salt and a sad side salad (that should be your new band's name).

the bite i had was pretty banging, but i want watermelon when i'm on someone else's parents' backyard deck overlooking the pool i'm about to wash said watermelon juice off in (confusing, i know, but true to life). when i'm at a bar with a pint of strong beer, i want something fried, even if it is 88 degrees out. that's just how you give humidity the middle [seitan] finger.